(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a webbing supporting device for supporting a webbing of a vehicle seat belt system.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
A variety of webbing supporting devices have heretofore been known to support a webbing of a vehicle seat belt system. A webbing supporting device is usually constructed of an anchor plate, i.e., base plate, a slip joint latched releasably with one end of the base plate, and a bolt fixed on a vehicle body and supporting pivotally the other end of the base plate. In addition, a holding member is arranged between the base plate and the vehicle body so that the holding member engages the base plate to hold the base plate at either use position or home position.
In order to ensure the holding of the base plate by the holding member, the base plate is usually biased in an engaging direction by a resilient member such as spring. Reference may be had to those described as prior art devices in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,238 issued on Feb. 4, 1987 to Hideki Hamada, et al.
In addition to a member for holding the base plate at its use position or home position, the above-described conventional webbing supporting devices however require a resilient member for biasing the base plate toward its held position in order to ensure the holding of the base plate. The conventional webbing supporting devices are hence accompanied by a drawback that their entire mechanisms as webbing supporting devices are complex.
An object of this invention is therefore to solve the above-mentioned drawback and to provide a webbing supporting device which has a simple structure and permits holding of the base plate at the use position or home position without failure.
In one aspect of this invention, there is thus provided a webbing supporting device comprising:
a bolt;
a base plate supported pivotally at one end thereof on the bolt;
a slip joint supporting a webbing thereon and provided on the other end of the base plate;
a resilient member fit loosely and rotatably on the bolt and having a portion to be connected to a vehicle body in order to prevent the resilient member from turning about the longitudinal axis of the bolt, said resilient member having a predetermined degree of resiliency in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the bolt; and
cooperating holding means provided respectively on the base plate and resilient member so as to hold the base plate on the resilient member at least at a home position of the base plate.
In another aspect of this invention, there is also provided a webbing supporting device comprising:
a bolt;
a base plate supported pivotally at one end thereof on the bolt so that the base plate is displaceable between at least two positions which are a use position and home position;
a slip joint supporting a webbing thereon and provided on the other end of the base plate;
a resilient member fit loosely and rotatably on the bolt and having a portion to be connected to a vehicle body in order to prevent the resilient member from turning about the longitudinal axis of the bolt, said resilient member having a predetermined degree of resiliency in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the bolt; and
cooperating holding means provided respectively on the base plate and resilient member so as to hold the base plate on the resilient member at desired one of said at least two positions.
According to the present invention, the function to hold a base plate at a desired position and that to bias the base plate toward its held position are both performed by a single piece of member, namely, by a resilient member. The webbing supporting devices therefore has a simple structure. The base plate can therefore be held at the desired position, for example, at its use position or home position without failure.